Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption publishes Report on
Denmark

Press Release

Strasbourg, 25 February 2010 - The
Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)
today published its Third Round Evaluation Report on Denmark, in
which it recommends more severe penal sanctions for corruption
offences and further transparency in party funding, among other
measures.

The report focuses on two distinct themes: criminalisation of
corruption and transparency of party funding, and addresses 14
recommendations to Denmark. GRECO will assess the implementation of these
recommendations in early 2011.

Regarding the criminalisation of corruption (link
to the report), overall, Danish criminal legislation complies with the
standards of the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and
its Additional Protocol. However, the offence of trading in influence is not
criminalised as such and the bribery provisions are not always as explicit
as required by the Convention.

GRECO considers that the penal sanctions for corruption offences are
generally low. It recommends the authorities to consider criminalising
trading in influence and to increase the criminal sanctions for bribery
offences. GRECO also recommends that Denmark improves its possibilities to
prosecute corruption abroad and that it gives high priority to the
introduction of criminal legislation against corruption – in conformity with
the Convention – also in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Concerning transparency of party funding (link
to the report), GRECO acknowledges that the electoral system in Denmark
is dominated by few political parties and that political funding is, to a
large degree, funded by public means.

GRECO appreciates that the existing legal framework concerning political
financing has been amended in recent years to provide for more transparency;
for example, by publishing party accounts. However, the transparency rules
could well be further enhanced through more precise reporting concerning
donations over a certain value and by abolishing anonymous donations, which
open up the possibility to circumvent the existing transparency rules.

Moreover, there are no regulations which would restrict donations from
abroad or, for example, from private companies. Finally, GRECO recommends to
develop the existing monitoring mechanism, in order to ensure more than just
a formalistic checking of party accounts.